The laptop arrived TODAY.  Ordered yesterday morning.  Huzzah for Newegg and UPS, although, seriously, the driver could have hidden the package a bit better, but no harm no foul.

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 Kirk Gibson homered his way into the hearts of Dodger fans forever...

The Dodgers could sure use some of that mojo tonight. It still gives me chills!

Here's Gibby talking about that evening....

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Hi y'all.

It's been a while, and yeah, the brick wall is still there.  But I seem to have made some progress.  At least, the bricks seem a little softer. Today, anyway.

I'm still broke (even broker, actually, as we dropped big $$ on car repairs this weekend), politics are still bleak, and work still sucks the big one.

But I am slowly being productive, one activity at a time, and working through a million small things on my desk.  Which is a big-ass mess.  As usual.  And the office furniture order never went through, so I have the same pathetic used furniture. But I continue to make do.  I am there right now, actually. Taking a much needed 5 minute break between activities, as I had meetings right through lunch.

Who am I kidding, I never take lunch time.  I'd rather finish my tasks and go home earlier.

I have a pile of stuff to grade including quizzes, problem sets, and test corrections from both General and Cell Biology, a reflective essay to work on for the accreditation stuff I have been assigned, and a faculty association to run.  Plus I have a lecture to prep for tomorrow.

And when I get a chance to come up for air, I have a husband, two puppies, choir rehearsal and the pool.

So you can understand why I haven't been blogging much.  I am around though and wanting very much to opine, but I just don't seem to have the time.  I have to schedule trips to the gas station these days, so blogging is mostly right out.

So what I guess I am trying to say is I miss you guys, things are better, and I appreciate your kind thoughts over the last week.  That's definitely what got me through.

I'll be in and out, check back soon :-)

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Someone please put a dent in that brick wall I keep banging my head against.  Please?

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1 I keep trying, but I keep getting knocked out. Dammit. Forget the knight in shining armor. Just give me a big ol' bubba with a sledgehammer.

Posted by: Mrs. Who at October 09, 2008 04:08 PM (z+bTV)

2 In my best Capt Picard voice,,,'Make it so!'

Posted by: Michele at October 10, 2008 12:43 PM (Jplxy)

3 ((HUGS))

Posted by: Lauren at October 10, 2008 09:48 PM (Pt1kf)

4 I've just rented a bobcat . . . be there in a couple weeks . . . anyone know how many times I need tos top for gas if I'm driving a bobcat to Cali?

Posted by: oddybobo at October 13, 2008 07:08 AM (mZfwW)

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DH:
Obama is a tool.
He's really a dick. 
He should go swallow a dick. Wait, he is a dick.
Go swallow yourself, Barry.

Me:
Hysterical laughter, choking, and tears running down my face

DH:
(with one finger raised, as a finger puppet; in a cartoon voice) I'm a tool.

Me:
Hysterical laughter, choking, and tears running down my face.  Pain in my guts from the laughing.

Obama (on TV):
blah, blah, vote for me (pauses)

DH:
(same finger puppet and voice) Because I'm a tool!

Me:
Hysterical laughter, choking, and tears running down my face, hiccupping, now running for the bathroom...

Perhaps you either have to know my usually mild-mannered unflappable husband to get it.  Or maybe you had to be there.  Either way, I am still giggling 12+ hours later.

I love you, hon!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 10:41 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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The up:  I just checked the bank.  Hubby indeed got paid, state budget be damned (first check after summer!  YAY!), and he got a really nice raise (this is a "target" year in his contract, so he essentially got a longevity raise plus the new negotiated raise plus COLA).

The down: Property Tax bills came out today.  I checked the Assessor's office.... I have until April 10 to come up with $6400!  Fuckers.  My house is worth 30% less courtesy of the tanked out housing market but we didn't qualify for a reassessment because it was less than a year after we bought the house during the reassessment period.

Somebody just find me a hole to crawl in, ok?

Posted by: caltechgirl at 10:53 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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The water heater works.  That's about it.

Tonight was bad though.  We had a fight.  A bad fight, the kind where one's parentage and sexual preferences are called into question.

I suppose the fight's over.  We were both sorry and apologized.  Hell, we were both terribly frustrated by some small carelessness that might lead to another large expense, but I think we can get it fixed tomorrow.  At least I think it can be fixed reasonably.  If not, well, just add another shitty and expensive bill to the pile.

And now I can't sleep.  He's out like a light.  I don't blame him, he's had a long hard day.  But I just can't shake the anxiety, the grouchyness.  I knew I would have trouble sleeping so I self medicated and put on a movie (Ratatouille, actually), but here I am at 20 after 2 AM.  Typing.

It's like I'm no longer waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Hell, the shoes just keep dropping.  So many rotten things have happened over the last few weeks to people I care about, I just want to put my fingers in my ears.  And there's more.  Lauren has to put down her puppy-boy, and Kate's FIL passed away. And there's more that I can't blog about because I haven't been given permission and it's not out on the interwebs.

Tonight's issue was just another stupid thing in what seems to be a rising tide of stupid things.  I am trying so hard to keep my head above water and stay positive because really?  I have it pretty good.  I have a job I could love, a wonderful home, a sweet and adoring husband that I heap much abuse on undeservedly, and 2 loving, healthy puppies.

I guess I just feel lost.  All of these posts are such downers, but that's where I am right now.  I'm not sure where I am or what I'm doing.  Lately it's just one fucking fire to be put out after another, with no energy left to do anything else.

And now it's 2:30 and I don't feel any better than I did when I started this.

Fuck.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 02:33 AM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
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Our water heater died this morning

Rachel lost her job

Helen and Angus had one of THOSE fights

The Republicans are all but guaranteeing Obama a win

We're all broke.

The 'pints crew is calling it quits

Rich's dad has pneumonia

Can I just crawl in a hole now?

Posted by: caltechgirl at 03:43 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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1 I'll bring the hard lemonade (since that's what I have in stock)

Posted by: wRitErsbLock at September 29, 2008 04:21 PM (0Pi1o)

2 I know... it's like I'm waiting for the next disaster!

Posted by: pam at September 29, 2008 04:21 PM (l6NIn)

3 You fit right in around here, CTG. Honest to goodness WTF prevails.

Posted by: Da Goddess at September 30, 2008 04:12 AM (3OqvP)

4 Don't pull that hole closed just yet; we all may need a place to go!

Posted by: Michele at September 30, 2008 06:17 AM (Jplxy)

5 Actually, it seems like my week (or at least the people I'm having to deal with in it) crawled OUT of a hole. A very dirty, stinky, fetid hole. If I didn't have work I MUST do I'd be at home on the sofa with a box of Mallomars and some old movie on the television. I've already cried with frustration and it's only Tuesday. That does not bode well.

Posted by: ricki at September 30, 2008 08:57 AM (O5SYw)

6 Holy crap - it would be better is it was just *me* having a hard time... I am so sorry...

Posted by: Richmond at October 01, 2008 06:22 PM (ULhSm)

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Not only can I not brain, but I suffer from this malady, too!



Yep.  That's it.  Exactly.

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This has been a rollercoaster of a week.  Up and down and Up and back way the fuck down again.

Moments of equanimity followed by hours of make-do, fix this, and putting out all the fires that suddenly spring up.

I'm not surprised it's fire season, BTW.  That's what it feels like in my head.  I have a million things to do, about 85 other things to take care of, and more things to prepare for.

And all I want to do is crawl under a rock.

Some people feel accomplished when they can plow through a to-do list of small errands, phone calls, and the like.  Me?  I just feel exhausted, as if the mental task of switching glibly from thing to thing was more difficult than the doing.

However, I am making the phone calls I needed to make in the last 10 minutes before my first meeting of the day.  I have 3 back to back meetings.  Ugh.

More later, maybe.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 09:57 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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I had to steal this one from Jane.  It's genius.

Meet Broc Obama:

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Damn cold medicine. It makes me loopy, so just a few quick takes for y'all

It has become increasingly clear to me that the Democrats are scared shitless of Sarah Palin. The sheer amount of vitriol being flung around (BTW, anyone know what vitriol REALLY is?) combined with the increasing hysteria about the fact that they can find any dirt that seems to stick is becoming increasingly laughable. Memo to the MSM: when hardcore BDS suffering Liberals begin to feel that the all-out, anti-Sarah barrage is TOO much, it's time to back off. And on a related note, so what if Sarah won't sit don for yet another hit-piece interview? Who said she had to let you piss in her sandbox? Or that she had to play your game? Especially when the rules change more frequently than Calvinball and the only thing that stays the same is that Sarah loses...

ESPN makes me happy. Not sure why, but there's really something comforting about being able to turn on something on the TV that sounds like the news, but won't make me scream and throw things at the TV. I need the "audio/visual wallpaper" when I'm working. Usually I have FoxNews or the local news on, but I just am so tired of knowing more about the story being reported than the editor or reporter who write and read the news scripts.

Anyone else think Kenley's dress on Project Runway last Wednesday looked like something Betty would wear on Ugly Betty? Yeah, me too.

Fake sudafed is for shit. It works about 1/10 as well as the real stuff, and they don't make the formulation that works for me with the real stuff any more. AARRGH. So I suffer. Benedryl ain't cutting it either, and I am sneezing every 5 minutes. Not to mention waking up every 45 minutes and sleeping badly in between...

Just waiting to see if shit rains down on my head about coming home early. I met all my responsibilities for the day, I taught my class and picked up HW and went to my meeting, where I also sat far away from everyone so I wouldn't give them germs.

I still have a hell of a lot of work to do, and a million small personal things to get taken care of. But I think it's nappy nap time.

Two quick links before I go:
1. Check out the investigative journalism done by the fine folks at My Pet Jawa regarding anti-Palin "viral" videos

2.wRitErsbLock went to see the Sarah Palin rally at the Villages, FL this weekend, check out her pictures.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 01:11 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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In Today's Onion:

EPA Shuts Down Local Ghost-Entrapment Business

NEW YORK --Citing unsafe practices and potential toxic contamination, the Environmental Protection Agency shut down a small ghost- entrapment operation in downtown Manhattan today, and had four of the business' spectral-containment specialists arrested in the process.

According to EPA agent Walter Peck, employees of the company ”located in an old fire station in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York” had repeatedly refused to grant him access to their storage facility, which posed a health hazard to the surrounding community.

"The facility in question unlawfully used public utilities for the purpose of non-sanctioned waste-handling, and was in direct violation of the Environmental Protection Act," Peck said. "Additionally, this company possessed several unlicensed portable nuclear accelerators that were frequently discharged within mere feet of civilians."

Some who witnessed the arrests felt that Peck had launched a personal crusade against the business, possibly due to a previous verbal altercation with one of the ghost-removal professionals, former parapsychology research professor Dr. Peter Venkman.

"It definitely seemed as though Agent Peck had an ax to grind," said Consolidated Edison technician Brian Holmes, who was ordered by Peck to turn off the containment system located in the basement of the company's headquarters. "I had never seen anything even resembling that type of equipment before. I was extremely hesitant to shut it down, but I didn't want to lose my job."

Though its incarcerated employees were unavailable for comment, the company released a statement denying any wrongdoing. The statement also repudiated claims that those associated with the spectral-entrapment operation were afraid of any individual ghost, and went on to say that the act of capturing said ghosts simply made them "feel good."

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It's blog crawl day and I have the worst cold I've had in months.  There's no way I can stay up, let alone partake :-(

Have fun, y'all. 

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Further proof that the Left has lost their minds.

Wendy Doniger, professor of Divinity at the University of Chicago on Sarah Palin:

"Her greatest hypocrisy is in her pretense that she is a woman."

Posted by: caltechgirl at 07:06 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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As some of you may know, about a year ago I was forced to move from a cozy office in an out of the way corner of the building to a more front and center office that at least facilitates interaction with my students.  When I moved, I had to leave all of the furniture except my file cabinet in the office, and I only got to take that because the person who moved in said it was too big for him to deal with.

This means that for the past year I have been making do with a crappy, old, MDF computer desk that has pull out shelves and no drawers that I managed to scavenge and 2 tiny borrowed bookshelves.  You sense a theme, here.  Yep.  No drawers.  So I have been living out of boxes.  My tiny desk is a mess, all cluttered with students' papers, office supplies, my computer, phone, and calendar.

A lot of people come to my office or pass my office.  And it is a frigging MESS.  It's despicable.  And I am SOOOO tired of it.

Unfortunately, there's just no money for office redo's.  However, my grant is ending and there's a small sum left in the supply budget.  So if the Dean approves, I am getting a REAL desk and a hutch.  WITH DRAWERS.  And CABINETS.  So I can put things away for the first time in over a year!!!!!

Pray for me and my office, folks, I need it fixed for my SANITY.

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1 *hugs*

Posted by: vw bug at September 12, 2008 01:28 PM (FPOeI)

2 Hope there's scads of money left over and you can afford a plant as well. And maybe some paint...

Posted by: pam at September 12, 2008 02:47 PM (l6NIn)

3 *keeping my fingers crossed* Prayers being uplifted.

Posted by: Lauren at September 14, 2008 12:48 PM (Pt1kf)

4 Is it too late to cross my fingers for you... I hope you get your office stuff - that's just silly to be working out of boxes. *sigh*

Posted by: Teresa at September 15, 2008 11:43 AM (mMa3+)

5 i can't think of a better way to use the left over dollars then to help make you more productive. good luck sam. let us know....

Posted by: zoey at September 16, 2008 09:06 PM (exUb6)

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And because dook sucks:

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Flat on my back, staying home from work.  Pain.  Memories from 7 years ago making things worse, too.

Today is a bad day.  Don't tell me you're sorry or you want me to feel better.  It will pass.  It always does.  And it's less than a blip in the grand scheme of things.

Just tell me something amusing, I really could use the laugh.

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Turns out the Earth is safe for another six weeks.  Particle collision won't begin until Oct. 21.

But the beam circulation was a massive success.

Yes, I did stay up and watch it. On Caltech's EVO system, logged in with the rest of the geeks.  At least all the way through beam 1.  I used to be a particle physicist before I decided to spend my life playing with brains.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 07:41 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 Oh, I thought they accomplished everything last night and we were safe for another 30 years or so... barring a comet... LOL! Nice to know that 10-21 is the new date of destruction!

Posted by: pam at September 10, 2008 08:54 AM (l6NIn)

2 I won't panic 'till you do...

Posted by: Richmond at September 10, 2008 01:42 PM (XAq2Q)

3 Gawd you're hilarious. Remember, I love my nerdy friends the most.

Posted by: Stacy at September 11, 2008 08:48 AM (92p8H)

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It was a pleasure to have known you all.

You see, tonight, just before Midnight (PDT) the CERN laboratory in Switzerland is going to fire up its Large Hadron Collider (LHC) for the very first time.  Some physicists argue that beam collision could be the very end of our existence...DON'T CROSS THE STREAMS, VENKMAN!!!!

But I don't see any stewardesses crying Caltech professors running around jumping out of airplanes and spending millions they don't have on fast cars and flashy bling, so I guess we're all gonna be fine.

So what is the LHC?  According to CERN (which stands for: The European Center for Nuclear Research, just in French):

The LHC is the world's most powerful particle accelerator, producing beams seven times more energetic than any previous machine, and around 30 times more intense when it reaches design performance, probably by 2010. Housed in a 27-kilometre tunnel, it relies on technologies that would not have been possible 30 years ago. The LHC is, in a sense, its own prototype.

Extensive studies have been performed to determine whether it's even SAFE to do these experiments, and hundreds of physicists agree that we won't vaporize the universe out of existence at 9:30am CEST (that's Central Europe Summer time).  You can see for yourself here.More on safety considerations here. (sorry, they won't let me embed the video)

If you're so inclined, you can watch the proceedings here, beginning at 8:30am CEST (10:30 PM Pacific)

And if you want to what on Earth they'd make such a thing for, try watching this:
 

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